Thousands of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance have run up massive debts they have no hope of repaying, a charity has said.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service said one in eight people who contacted it for help during the first half of the year, a total of nearly 14,500 people, were claiming the benefit.

It said these people owed an average of £15,412 in unsecured debt each, with money owed to around five different creditors. But it warned that these people had little hope of repaying the debt.

It said even if they spent the entire Jobseeker's Allowance on debt repayments each week, it would still take more than four-and-a-half years to become debt free, and even then this would only be the case if interest on the debt was frozen.